The Council on Academic Affairs analyzed how many students benefited from the Early Alert System at its meeting Thursday.

Karla Sanders presented the statistics of the Early Alert System during the meeting.

The Early Alert System is where professors can send in an alert through WebCT if a student is not doing well in the classroom regarding attendance and assignments.

The alert is then sent to the student as well as a member of the Committee on Retention Efforts (CORE).

In the Fall 2011 semester, 852 alerts were sent out to 585 students, Sanders said. Students either received alerts from multiple classes, or multiple alerts from the same class.

Statistics from the fall semester also showed a correlation between the number of alerts sent out and the students’ GPAs, Sanders said.

A total of 240 students with a GPA of 2.0 or less received at least one alert, compared to the 18 students with a GPA of 3.5 or above who also received alerts.

Resident Assistants are informed if one of their students received an alert. It is then their responsibility to talk to their residents about the issues that they are having in class, she said.

RAs said that the feedback from their residents varies from students not opening their doors and talking about it, to students who are willing to admit that they are struggling in a course and need help, she said.

Students living off campus can also receive alerts, and members of CORE have mentors and interns available to contact the students in the same way that RAs discuss the issues with their residents.

When asked how often the students are confronted about the issue, Sanders said that emails are checked every day and action is taken daily.

Sanders commented on members concerns that not all professors take attendance during class, especially in large lecture halls.

She said that in this case, the professors cannot really know if there is a problem unless students start missing assignments or tests.

Because there is no attendance policy, alerts are not always sent until later in the semester, she said.

The ideal period to receive alerts is within the first six weeks of classes so that students still have time to bring their grades up before the end of the semester.

Members on the CAA said that the Early Alert System is very easy to use.

Stacey Ruholl, member of CAA, also noticed that the attendance alerts seem to be very effective in getting students to start going to class.

The alert system is being critiqued by faculty and Sanders said that every comment is being taken into consideration so that the system will be as easy to use and as effective as possible.

Piper Black can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].